7-day shut-in for global fliers

The Centre on Friday made it mandatory for people flying in from abroad to be in home quarantine for a week after arrival, and go for a RT-PCR test on the eighth day. The revised guidelines, issued by the health ministry, will come into force from January 11.

The guidelines will also apply to passengers who test negative for Covid-19 at the airport.

The guidelines were announced on a day India reported 1,17,100 new cases of Covid-19 - a 28 per cent jump in a day - and

302 deaths in 24 hours. The single-day rise of over one lakh cases, reported after 214 days, has taken tally to

3,52,26,386.

The daily positivity has gone up to 7.74 per cent.

The Omicron count has also gone over 3,125 across 27 states and Union Territories.

The new guidelines on international travellers, incidentally, came a day after Telangana state's

Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao told a media conference that

Covid-19 surveillance of international air passengers arriving at the city's airport has outlived its purpose with the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus now spreading through the community.

Dr Srinivasa Rao had also suggested that Omicron variant surveillance at the airport would provide no additional benefit to the control of

Covid-19.

The health ministry, meanwhile, has added seven countries — Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Congo, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan — to the category of at-risk nations. Others in this list are countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, China, Botswana, Ghana, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Hong Kong and Israel.